Marc Isaacs' eye-opening Storyville film explores the life of a Jewish antiques dealer from a small English seaside town who believes it is his Biblical birthright to take as many wives as he chooses. Spending time with the family in Hove, Isaacs tries to understand why the women have chosen to live under the rule of this self-proclaimed Hebrew King. (2006)
This documentary is part of Louis Theroux: Docs That Made Me, a collection of his favourite documentaries. As a fan of director Marc Isaacs, whose work Louis describes as 'elegiac and elliptical', this film isn't a straightforward journalistic documentary, but focuses instead on what he calls a 'visual poetry'. The themes of unconventional religious and sexual behaviour seem all the more fascinating for being located in a familiar British setting rather than in America, where documentary viewers are more used to encountering characters with outlandish religious beliefs.
Comments